THE agreement, styled as a ‘de-escalation roadmap’, reached at Geneva last Thursday by representatives from Russia, US, EU and the Ukraine coupist government, represents a massive retreat by the Stalinist bureaucracy and a stab in the back for the Ukrainian working class.
The fact that Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was prepared to send his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to negotiate with representatives of the illegal Ukrainian government, that he has consistently refused to recognise, was a clear indication that Putin is desperately seeking a renewed partnership deal with imperialism and its Ukrainian stooges.
Putin’s desperation springs from the overriding fear of the bureaucracy of the revolutionary uprising by the Ukrainian working class that is refusing to accept the imposition of an illegal government, installed and funded by western imperialism.
Putin and the Stalinist bureaucracy are more terrified of the revolutionary working class fighting to restore soviet power in the Ukraine, than they are of the military threat to Russia posed by imperialism, with the relentless drive by NATO to encircle Russia as a prelude to the re-conquest of the territory capitalism was deprived of through the Russian Revolution of 1917.
This latest deal with imperialism goes much further than recognition of the illegal regime. It commits Russia to enforcing the disarming of the Ukrainian workers in the east of the country and their physical removal from the occupations of government buildings and public spaces.
According to the deal, all ‘illegal’ groups will be forced to disarm and vacate government buildings and public spaces in return for an amnesty. In return for disarming the working class, the deal vaguely talks of the ‘government’ in Kiev starting a public consultation aimed at ‘devolving constitutional powers’ to the provinces.
The disarming and eviction of occupiers will be carried out by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) which will enter the Ukraine to ensure compliance with this rotten deal. The OSCE will be supplemented by monitors from the EU, US and Russia!
In other words, Putin has committed Russia to ensuring that the Ukrainian working class is disarmed and left at the tender mercy of the fascist bands that comprise the Kiev ‘government’ who in turn will be under the protection of US and European imperialist powers.
US Secretary of State, John Kerry, made it quite clear that the US would hold Russia responsible for ensuring that the Ukrainian working class were disarmed when he said: ‘Responsibility will lie with those who have organised their presence, provided them with the weapons, put the uniforms on them, supported them, and have been engaged in the process of guiding them over the course of this operation,’ adding that the US had ‘made very clear that Russia has a huge impact on all those forces. And we have made clear what the evidence is.’
Of course, the largest illegal occupation in Ukraine is in the centre of Kiev at the Maidan Square. This subsequently gave rise to the occupation of the parliament itself, by right-wing, fascist groups, led by men who now form part of the imperialist recognised ‘interim government’.
Ending their illegal coup and occupation forms no part of this deal. This fact has not gone unnoticed by the Ukrainian workers, who have refused to end their occupations and made clear they would not even contemplate such a move unless Maidan Square was cleared and the illegal occupation of the parliament ended.
While Putin is trying to make his peace with imperialism and the illegal government in Kiev by disarming the working class in the east, these workers are refusing to give up and peacefully accept the domination of Ukraine by the US and EU.
The fight now for the Ukrainian workers must be to establish soviets throughout the country and go forward to the political revolution, not just in Ukraine but in Russia, to kick out the counter-revolutionary Stalinist bureaucracy and restore Soviet power to the entire region.
The absolute requirement for carrying out this task is the building of sections of the Fourth International all over the area of the USSR to lead the developing political revolution to its victory, as part of the victory of the world socialist revolution.
